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Introdução: Os adolescentes são um grupo de intervenção prioritária em saúde reprodutiva. Os médicos de medicina geral e familiar, ginecologistas e pediatras são os principais responsáveis pelo aconselhamento contracetivo.Material e Métodos: Estudo transversal, correlacional, de natureza quantitativa, aprovado pela comissão de ética do Centro Hospitalar de Leiria. Dados colhidos em questionário online validado (alfa de Cronbach e Análise Fatorial Exploratória), constituído por itens de tipo diferencial semântico, com cinco pontos (“Discordo totalmente — 1” e “Concordo totalmente — 5”). Pontuações mais elevadas conotam-se com maior conhecimento ou adequabilidade na questão. Análise por género, especialidade, anos de carreira e grau de formação: especialista, interno de formação específica.Resultados: Obtiveram-se 338 respostas (51% médicos de medicina geral e familiar, 29% pediatras, 20% ginecologistas). Do total, 66% eram especialistas, 36% tinham menos de cinco anos de carreira e 17% tinham mais de 20 anos de carreira. O conhecimento das recomendações foi superior entre os ginecologistas [4,38 (1,09); p < 0,001] e no género feminino [3,65 (1,41); p = 0,039] com diferença estatisticamente significativa. Os ginecologistas receberam mais formação recentemente [3,79 (1,42)] e consideram estar atualizados [4,41 (0,70), p < 0,001].Discussão: O questionário revelou validade e fiabilidade. Os ginecologistas estão mais familiarizados com a contraceção na adolescência, enquanto pediatras e clínicos mais novos referem maior necessidade de atualização. Os ginecologistas receberam formação recentemente e consideram estar atualizados, pelo que a formação na área parece ter impacto positivo.Conclusão: O conhecimento acerca do aconselhamento contracetivo ainda não é ótimo, pelo que é fundamental investir na formação dos profissionais de saúde.

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Adolescents are a target group for reproductive health intervention. Family physicians, gynecologists and pediatricians are the main providers of contraceptive counseling.Correlational, cross-sectional study, approved by the ethics committee of Leiria Hospital, Portugal. Data was collected through a validated online questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha and Exploratory Factorial Analysis) using a semantic differential scale (1 - Totally Agree; 5 - Totally Disagree). Higher scores were indicative of greater knowledge or suitability concerning the matter in question. Results were compared by gender, specialty, years of career and rank: consultant or resident.We received 338 responses (51% family physicians, 29% pediatricians, 20% gynecologists), 66% were specialists, 36% had been working for less than 5 years and 17% for more than 20 years. Awareness of national recommendations was higher in gynecologists [4.38 (1.09)] and in the female gender [3.65 (1.41)] with statistically significant differences. Gynecologists had more recent training [3.79 (1.42)] and considered themselves to be up-to-date [4.41 (0.70)], p0.001.The questionnaire showed reliability and validity. Gynecologists were more familiarized with adolescent contraception; pediatricians and young clinicians highlighted the need for an update on this matter. Gynecologists had more training and considered themselves up-to-date, so training in this area seems to have a positive impact.Knowledge about contraceptive counseling is not yet sufficient, so it is very important to invest in the continuous medical education of clinicians.Introdução: Os adolescentes são um grupo de intervenção prioritária em saúde reprodutiva. Os médicos de medicina geral e familiar, ginecologistas e pediatras são os principais responsáveis pelo aconselhamento contracetivo. Material e Métodos: Estudo transversal, correlacional, de natureza quantitativa, aprovado pela comissão de ética do Centro Hospitalar de Leiria. Dados colhidos em questionário online validado (alfa de Cronbach e Análise Fatorial Exploratória), constituído por itens de tipo diferencial semântico, com cinco pontos (“Discordo totalmente — 1” e “Concordo totalmente — 5”). Pontuações mais elevadas conotam-se com maior conhecimento ou adequabilidade na questão. Análise por género, especialidade, anos de carreira e grau de formação: especialista, interno de formação específica. Resultados: Obtiveram-se 338 respostas (51% médicos de medicina geral e familiar, 29% pediatras, 20% ginecologistas). Do total, 66% eram especialistas, 36% tinham menos de cinco anos de carreira e 17% tinham mais de 20 anos de carreira. O conhecimento das recomendações foi superior entre os ginecologistas [4,38 (1,09); p0,001] e no género feminino [3,65 (1,41); p = 0,039] com diferença estatisticamente significativa. Os ginecologistas receberam mais formação recentemente [3,79 (1,42)] e consideram estar atualizados [4,41 (0,70), p0,001]. Discussão: O questionário revelou validade e fiabilidade. Os ginecologistas estão mais familiarizados com a contraceção na adolescência, enquanto pediatras e clínicos mais novos referem maior necessidade de atualização. Os ginecologistas receberam formação recentemente e consideram estar atualizados, pelo que a formação na área parece ter impacto positivo. Conclusão: O conhecimento acerca do aconselhamento contracetivo ainda não é ótimo, pelo que é fundamental investir na formação dos profissionais de saúde.

Increase in the incidence and prevalence of Eating Disorders have made it increasingly important that Health Care Professionals be familiar with the early detection and appropriate management of this group of disorders.To characterize an adolescent population followed in Adolescent Medicine office visit of Pediatric Department in Leiria's Hospital with Eating Disorders for type of disorder, presence of alert signs and symptoms and risk factors for an early detection of disease.Retrospective analytic study conducted by consulting clinical processes and first office visit questionnaires of adolescent population followed for Eating Disorders, between August 2005 and April 2008. Criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition were considered to define Eating Disorder type.Twenty two adolescents were included, with 20 girls. Five adolescents met all Anorexia Nervosa criteria and two met all Bulimia Nervosa criteria. The other 15 were included in Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. All samples showed intense fear of gaining weight and 20 adolescents a disturbed body image. All adolescents confessed having restrictive eating attitudes, half had compensatory behaviors and four assume having recurrent episodes of binge eating. Almost all revealed some type of somatic complaint and 19 showed psychological symptoms. One third of this population had personal history of obesity/overweight. Most adolescents presented weight lost when observed in the first office visit. Six adolescents showed body weight under 85% of that expected. One third of postmenarche adolescents suffered from secondary amenorrhea. Half of adolescents reported dysfunctional family and one quarter had separate parents; eight adolescents had family history of mental illness.Most adolescents were included in the diagnosis of Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, according with other studies in this age. This fact implies that in practice the suspicion of an Eating Disorder in an adolescent should not be restricted to the meeting of other categories criteria. For an early detection, relevance should be given to aspects like a weight loss even without an abnormal body mass index, an inappropriate eating attitude, a dissatisfaction with body image, associated with a multiplicity of psychosomatic complaints, in a dysfunctional family environment.

In the context of the National Health Youth Program, Department of Pediatrics of Santo André Hospital (SAH) has as one of its objectives to extend its age limit up to 18 years of age.To evaluate adolescents' health needs followed up at SAH and to determine the impact of the proposed new age limit policy.Retrospective descriptive study that included adolescents (10-18 years old) seen at the emergency department (ED), outpatients or admitted to the pediatric ward between 2000 and 2004.Adolescents represented 7.3% (average) of all the patients seen at SAH during this period. Approximately 11130 adolescents were seen yearly in the ED, 57% of these in the pediatric ED, 39.5% in general ED, and 3.5% in obstetrics/gynecology ED (the majority of these patients were between the ages of 15 and 18). Medical causes represented 53% of the final diagnosis and 43% were surgical related. The average number of outpatients consultations was 7657 per year and of these, 25% were seen by pediatricians (87% were 10 to 14 years of age). The specialties with the greatest number of consultations were: dentistry (13.3%), orthopedics (13.1%), ear, and nose and throat specialist (8.3%), ophthalmology (7.7%), dermatology (7.2%), psychiatric (5.3%) and obstetrics (5.2%). General medicine and other medical specialties were responsible for 6.4% of the consultations. Yearly about 590 adolescents were admitted, 60.3% in the pediatric ward regardless of the underlying cause. The remaining were admitted to the surgical ward, orthopedics ward and obstetrics/gynecology ward.With the proposed new age limit policy we expect a 10% overall increase in the numbers of patients in the pediatric ED, 6.4% in the pediatric outpatients and 15.5 as inpatients. Adolescents will represent 33.7 of the pediatrics total inpatients population. Management of the patients will require the development of new installations, the training of medical professionals, both pediatric and adult health careers, that will in the future deal with this patient group.